The Effectiveness of an On-Line Graduate Engineering Management Course

In the summer of 1997, the Engineering Management Department of the University of Missouri-Rolla\u27s (UMR) began offering its first Internet-based graduate level course. This course, Advanced Production Management, was designed to utilize a combination of Internet-based tools, such as EMail and Chat rooms to create a alternative means for the delivery of course material. This paper will draw these following conclusions from more than a year of research, which included over 100 students in six different course offerings. First, the Internet-based students performed equally as well as the control group students. Second, students tend to have exaggerated time requirement expectations for Internet-based classes. Third, students tend to have positive course effectiveness experiences. Fourth, students tend to be very skeptical of electronic lectures but their experiences are positive. Fifth, learning styles play a role influencing student expectations regarding Internet-based education. This influence is especially strong in student course time expectations and both the effectiveness and satisfaction of the use of EMail and Chat rooms

Effectiveness of an On-Line Graduate Engineering Management Course: A Preliminary Study

In the summer of 1997, the University of Missouri-Rolla\u27s (UMR) Engineering Management Department began offering its first completely Web-based course. This graduate level course, Advanced Production Management, was designed to utilize a combination of Web-based tools to create a conducive, yet non-traditional, learning environment for its students. The students in the course did not physically have to attend any lectures and only met for an initial and final class period. The remainder of the course was conducted exclusively via Web-based tools. Accordingly, the Engineering Management Department commenced a research effort to determine the effectiveness of this new learning environment. This paper will discuss the initial results of this study, based on the first of three consecutive offerings of this course. Specifically, this paper addresses student subjective expectations and corresponding experiences as to the time required and learning effectiveness in comparison to a traditional, in-class, course. In addition, the expectations and learning experiences as related to specific Web-based tools are examined

Effectiveness of an Internet-Based Graduate Engineering Management Course

This research provides engineering educators analytical evidence as to the effectiveness of Internet-based course instruction. The research examined the University of Missouri-Rolla\u27s Internet-based Advanced Production and Operations Management course, with a focus on determining the effectiveness of the Internet-based education tools used. Over 100 students in five Internet-based classes and one traditional, in-class control group were given three sets of surveys, learning style assessments, a course pre-test, and a course final examination. Multiple conclusions were drawn from this study based on analyses of the data collected. First, the Internet-based students performed equally as well as the control group as measured by the difference between pre-test and post-test scores. Second, the Internet-based students were found to have had exaggerated time requirement expectations for taking a course in the Internet environment. Third, the students rated the effectiveness and satisfaction positively for the Internet classroom format. Initially, the Internet-based students were skeptical of electronic lectures but their experiences were positive